Soylent Food Substitute Reaches $1M in Pre-Orders

Have you heard of the not-so-cleverly named food substitute that’s about to break into the American market? It’s called Soylent.

Soylent’s creator, Rob Rhinehart, wanted to create an inexpensive food replacement (not “meal” replacement) that could help end world hunger and allow techies to stay glued to their computers without the need to take pesky breaks for eating.

Last month, Soylent successfully raised more than a million dollars through pre-orders in one of the world’s most popular crowd funding campaigns to date.

What is Soylent?

It’s not people.

(At least I think it’s not.)

Soylent is a food substitute intending to provide all the body’s nutritional needs. It’s made from powdered starch, rice and pea protein, olive oil, and raw chemical powders. It comes as a powdered mix, and you add water to it to produce a chalky, sweet drink.

Soylent’s creator, Rob Rhinehart, is an engineer who grew tired of having to think about food, so he created soylent for himself. With time and tweaking, he finally settled on a formula he thought would meet and exceed all the body’s daily nutritional requirements.

He began living the “soylent lifestyle” and soon began thinking he was onto something special that he could market to the world.

“I’d like this to be something that is like coffee — a commodity something that’s available everywhere. Maybe a utility like water and power. Something that is ubiquitous and easy to consume,” he said. “I’d like to see it in grocery and convenience stores soon.”
(source)

Soylent is not food.

It is meant to be a food replacement — as in, you don’t need to eat food ever again.

In a personal blog entry (titled: “How I Stopped Eating Food”) that sparked his internet fame, Rhinehart wrote of Soylent:

There are no meats, fruits, vegetables, or breads here. Besides olive oil for fatty acids and table salt for sodium and chloride nothing is recognizable as food.
(source)

As if this is something to be proud of? What would prompt anyone to want to stop eating food?

He wrote:

I used to spend about 2 hours per day on food. Typically I would cook eggs for breakfast, eat out for lunch, and cook a quesadilla, pasta, or a burger for dinner. For every meal at home I would then have to clean and dry the dishes. This does not include trips to the grocery store. Now I spend about 5 minutes in the evening preparing for the next day, and every meal takes a few seconds. I love order of magnitude improvements, and I certainly don’t miss doing dishes.

Now we’re getting somewhere! Rhinehart (and many like him) view eating food as a necessary evil — a chore.

Soylent also saved him a considerable amount of money. Rather than spending about $470 per month on groceries and eating out, he could now spend a mere $150 on Soylent.

That’s when he realized this had huge global and social implications. We could end world hunger! All anyone would need was this cheap, powdered food replacement and a source of clean water.

What do I think of Soylent?

While I think it’s honorable that people are trying to tackle the problem of world hunger, I hesitate to get behind a product like Soylent.

Nutrition science is still a young science.

It’s premature to believe we can itemize a finite list of what the human body needs. To quote N.N. Taleb, this is “epistemic arrogance.” Sailors only need protein and potatoes? Oops, didn’t know about scurvy and vitamin C. We need fat-soluble vitamins? Oops, consumers get vitamin A or D poisoning, as it’s stored in body fat.
(source)

The simple truth is that we don’t understand the complex interplay of nutrients within the human body yet.

Nutrition is not one-size-fits-all.

If we’ve learned anything at all over the last few decades of nutrition science, it’s that the body’s nutrient needs change constantly.

If you are an elderly man, you need far less cholesterol in your diet than an elderly woman.

If you are trying to conceive, you need a different set of fertility-boosting nutrients for both partners.

If you are trying to gain muscle mass, you need a different proportion of macro-nutrients than someone simply trying to improve endurance.

Yet we can break it down even further, as even these generalities fail to account for individual medical histories, genetic pre-dispositions, and ever-fluctuating hormones.

How much sleep do you get? Are you nearing menopause? Is it your time of the month? How much coffee, tea, or soda do you drink? Are you on hormonal birth control? What’s your gut health like?

All of these factors affect both your ability to absorb nutrients and the specific nutrient needs of your body.

Food has value beyond nutrition.

Perhaps most importantly, I believe that food — real food — is ennobling.

As I’ve written before, real food nourishes both the soul and body:

That’s because finding, cooking, and eating Real Food is a craft. I once heard that cooking was the only art form that uses all five senses. It engages the whole person, and as such rewards the whole person. Preparing Real Food isn’t just about good nutrition or ethics. It’s about becoming the people we are meant to be, becoming more fully human.
(source)

There is value in preparing real food — value found in sourcing real food well, preparing it well, and enjoying its beauty. Value found in the communal aspect of foraging, preparing, and eating.

Seriously, if you want to know my thoughts on the virtue of eating real food, I’ve never said it more eloquently than I did in my post Real Food is Soul Food. (If you haven’t read it yet, please take a moment and do so. You will understand me so much better if you do!)

Rhinehart would give us a world where all that value is stripped away, where food isn’t even food anymore — but bodily nourishment in its most base and utilitarian form.

In all fairness, he isn’t saying we should eat only Soylent — just that we can, if we want to.

He’s more of a believer that we don’t really think about or even consciously care about the vast majority of our meals. So instead, his goal is to create a wholly nutritious and inexpensive source of food that he uses for most of his meals. He tries to savor the few non-soylent meals he eats, and says he even appreciates them more as a result.
(source)

How about you? Would you eat Soylent? What are your thoughts?

About the Author

Kristen Michaelis CNC has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2008. Founder and CEO of Food Renegade, she's a passionate advocate for REAL FOOD -- food that's sustainable, organic, local, and traditionally-prepared according to the wisdom of our ancestors. She earned a Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) from Dallas Baptist University in Philosophy and Biblical Studies, then began her post-graduate journey as a researcher in the fields of health and nutrition. While she adores hats & happy skirts, nothing inspires her quite like geeking out over nutrition & sustainable agriculture. Nutrition educator & author of the go-to book on nutrition for fertility, she's also a rebel with a cause who enjoys playing in the rain, a good bottle of Caol Isla scotch, curling up with a page-turning book, sunbathing on her hammock, and parenting her three children as they grow into young adults.

Comments

Brenda A.says

I would use it occasionally. As a quick substitute when time is an issue. Or when I don’t feel well enough to prepare something. Or when creativity has left the building. Or maybe when the money has run out. I’ve had a few times when it was a real struggle to afford a healthy meal (not too many times thankfully). But I love variety. And I love playing in the kitchen. And I love the smells and the tastes and the textures. All of it. It would make me incredibly sad to not experience that regularly.

“When creativity has left the building…money has run out…or when I don’t feel well enough to prepare something…”

In those situations, rather than this monstrosity (Soylent) or anything like it, it’s just simple to grab a hunk of basic real food…a raw egg, a glass of raw milk, an apple, banana, other fruit or nuts or, heck, even the old standby, plain unflavored yogurt. When I’ve not been feeling well, I prefer
to give my body stuff that it recognizes and can use, or, best yet…do a water fast. The concept of Soylent is like a techie’s wet dream, imho, and will never ever satisfy like the real thing. Even though it may feel somewhat similar, it will never create or sustain life or heal the body of its diseases.

Your lack of clean water point illuminates a huge oversight on his part, although arguably this can be made into a hard bar of some sort and pre-packaged. Just to be clear, I wouldn’t touch this product with a 10 foot pole!

I…what…WHAAAAT? He makes this stuff and then calls it SOYLENT? Does he not see the horribly ironic possibilities of his (I’m assuming) intentionally ironic name?

You know what this reminds me of? Scientists trying to clone ancient, extinct species because they can. Screw the potential environmental and moral quagmires this poses. There are so many ways this could be used for profit and exploitation. Nestlé, anyone?

You’re joking, but apparently a lot of the people who placed “pre-orders” during his crowdfunding last month (which raised more than a million dollars!) actually were survivalist types who wanted a lifetime supply of the stuff.

Is this really a new invention? Does he not realize how many people are fully sustained on tube feeding formula…that’s essentially what he “created,” except, perhaps slightly more palatable. He should just have a PEG tube placed, then he wouldn’t have to waste time swallowing either.

Tube feeding formulas are generally not particularly nutritious, either. Most of them are extremely high in sugars … something I could not fathom, given that those using them will not taste them. My late brother-in-law was on a tube feed for the last year of his life – and he wasted away to skin and bone largely because the tube formula that the doctors and therapists prescribed him did not have enough fats and proteins.

And from what I gather, tube feeding has become a popular way for some people to lose weight. I just don’t get that at all. :/

There is nothing new under the sun. The scientist who wanted to help world hunger modified wheat to produce greater crops thus producing wheat so very high in gluten. Now we have an epidemic of gluten intolerance and people getting fatter because the whole wheat shoots your blood sugar sky high. I feel sorry for this guy. Preparing meals and enjoying good, healthy meals with others is a wonderful time of community. All that God created including us can not be improved upon…man seems to corrupt all that is natural!

I know that not varying your diet can lead to serious health issues. So drinking this thing and having nothing else could be disastrous. The other thing is that this would be the absolute opposite of ending world hunger. Soy is a commodity crop. And since these commodity crops have flooded the markets of poor countries they have left their local farms unable to compete. Without out local farms to compete with our commodity crop exports lower income persons in those countries do not have cheaper food options. So they starve. Not to mention over 90% of soy crop is GMO-loaded so this is just a GMO straight to the blood stream nightmare. And yes the most obvious (or it should be obvious) is that nothing beats natural, whole, real, clean food.

He addresses an issue which the majority of you don’t seem to comprehend. I live alone, getting older and on meds that diminish my taste or appetite or something. I work full time, I’m tired full time. I hate to shop, I hate to wash dishes, and I don’t enjoy cooking at all anymore (I used to like to cook and was good at it too). I prefer fresh foods, but I can’t seem to have what I want when I want it on hand. I may think a fruit looks good in the store. But it may linger in my refrigerator until it is ultimately thrown out. If I didn’t have to eat . . . I wouldn’t anymore. Except for chocolate . . . I still love chocolate and nuts. I love nuts. (I am nuts!) I’m still trying to figure out how to eat healthy on a tight budget without a lot of food prep. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them! (I think living and eating alone is kind of an appetite killer too. If I eat Peanut butter from a jar and drink my Almond Milk from the carton . . . who’s gonna care, right?)

It’s tough to cook and enjoy the simple pleasure when you eat alone and are tired. though it’s important as proper food help for your health and good mood.

as you ask for ideas, here you go :
– check that blog : lovely English Mum who cooked for her and her son for £10 a week (roughly 15$). it’s not the best diet as lots is through can food, but at least it’s varied and not too badly balanced.http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/below-the-line-budget-recipes/
– making a meal plan (and sticking to it) makes it easier as well. it’s cheaper, makes shopping more efficient and cooking quicker.
– if you can cook a big pot and freeze portions as well. you could cook on Sunday and just warm your portion when you want during the week. if you google “batch cooking” or “once a month cooking’ or ” Sunday cooking”, you’ll find tons of recipes and tips. not perfect, but better than nothing.
– any neighbor or people from your community you could eat with sometimes ? there must someone who feel alone as well and could share a meal, even if only once or twice a month. some recipe are easier/cheaper to do for two, that would be the occasion.
you could also have a look at meetup.com to meet new people in you area who like things you like 🙂

How about a diet of smoothies?
There’s endless combinations and they’re super easy to prepare, You can keep with the seasons and/or freeze in quantity (like berries) to keep costs down.
BTW: Cravings for chocolate and nuts often indicate a pronounced magnesium deficiency. Mg deficienies often mean tiredness, as well as many other things such as depression. Getting Mg from food is touch since our soils have been stripped of them. I myself wouldn’t function (or walk, or sleep) w/o it.
Good luck!

First, is the “starch” and olive oil organic and non-GMO? Filling your body with GMO starch will not be a healthy thing. Chemical nutrients are not very healthy when compared to natural ones, either.

Plus all you wrote about individual nutrition, the amount we don’t know about nutrition, etc. Even as an occasional quick, in-a-rush, need food thing, I would want to know more about the ingredients before I would consume this.

Instead of food for every meal? Never. Food is a pleasure, not a chore. If I could make food instantly and skip the cooking/cleaning and just eat it, I’d go for that.

well, as a end-of-the-world thing, I can understand. Otherwise, hmmmm no thanks. nobody talked about the problem of not chewing on a regular basis and so the risk of loosing teeth ??

I totally agree with the concerns.
-Adding the “numbers” of what is supposedly good for one doesn’t mean it’s good for everybody.
-the whole is often better than the sum of the parts. there’s something about energy/vibration of food that can’t be redone in a lab. see the difference between source water and bottled water. it’s H2O, but it’s quite different.
-plus, I want to see the effect psychologically. Eating exactly the same substance… really wonder if he will keep it up for years.

Pascale,
I totally understand all of the concerns. Food is the optimal manner in which to keep ourselves healthy. However, there are many people who do not eat regularly or nutritiously.Much research needs to be completed before Soylent is seen as a panacea.
Take care,
Cindy

WHAT?! Okay there is nooo way this stuff is getting in mouth! No – way! I only accept the idea that it help save world hunger.. but I don’t want hungry people to drink it. It’s made from powdered starch or raw chemical powders… CHEMICAL powders = not healthy! We were given fruit, veggies, meat, eggs, ect. to eat them, not to replace them by some “soylent” that has very few benefits… And you are right Kristen, what about Vitamin A,B,C,D, and other things that our body needs? Nice try, but it’s not as healthy or nutritionist as it claims.
Sadly, I’m feeling this will be available at starbucks & many shops soon, manufactured, processed, with different tastes & additives, all over the world. Great job man, you have created another addiction to people (it seems).
Oh.. and I bet people who want to loose weight will droll on that “No food?! just drink? = no more fat!” What about the beautiful time we spend at the grocery store, the time we cook & smell the meals, and the time we actually “taste” food & enjoy it?Takes time but it nourishes your body & tastes great! Here we go, a cup that will be added to the fast food stores. Yup… and life rocks on!
(Btw I’m new here. Thank you for this article Kristen! Enjoyed it 🙂 )

So, how exactly does this solve world hunger? Just curious. Don’t the starch and proteins and fat and vitamins have to come from somewhere? They are probably coming from heavily subsidized U.S. annual crops (except the perennial olive oil), which would then displace local agriculture in the destination country.

If this guy wants to end hunger, he should spend his resources looking at the root causes, oh, like, America exporting its surplus around the world at rock-bottom prices? War? Financial inequities? I wonder how many egg-laying hens or milk-producing goats that million dollars could have purchased for those in need?

the kitchen is the heart of the home. that is where everyone gathers. You can cook together and eat together and enjoy each other. As crazy busy as life is right now, you really need to take a few minutes out of your day and do something good for yourself and your family and to interact with each other.

I think this is almost as horrible as actual soylent green! We were designed to EAT. Real food can’t be replaced with some chemical stew without serious repercussions in the long run. I’ve taken care of people with PEG tubes, and while they are sustained, they really can’t be considered healthy. And that doesn’t even touch on the esthetics of drinking a bunch of chemicals instead of tasting, savoring, and enjoying real food. Gah!

I would never follow a movement that was founded in laziness. This product was a solution to his problem of grocery shopping, the time it takes to cook, and washing dishes. This product solves no problem I have. I appreciate his noble ideas of using it to end world hunger. However, I don’t like the fact that it would be basically using low to no income people as guinea pigs to his new concept which seems to be flawed on its face.

I had to have TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) when I had cancer and I didn’t eat for 3 months, cooking food and enjoying putting good things into my body and
seeing the difference it makes for my body, thats an irreplaceable joy for me.

This makes me sad in numerous ways. Have we really become so convenience centered that the idea of EATING, or dressing, bathing & sleeping for that matter are BURDENSOME? Are we really at a point where being robotic slaves to technology is more valuable that interpersonal relationships?

I liked the comment about the zombie apocalypse… When my only thought is merely survival, I’d consider this. Thankfully, today I want to THRIVE not survive.

Furthermore, no one has addressed the implications of drinking all your calories. The dangers behind not chewing to signal digestion, malabsorption of said “raw chemicals” and the complexity of digestion and the interactions of macro and micronutrients, gut flora, etc.

I hate doing dishes too, but for me, the solution wouldn’t include drinking this concoction.

The medical field has been trying to get it right for years for seniors and others that cannot eat food and still have not got it right. Besides, I think I would rather miss the pleasure of all of the wonderful and ever changing taste sensations. I can see it being used as a last resort effort to sustain someone until they can eat again, but in place of eating? His remarks about saving time and money makes me wonder what kind of person he is other than a lazy, cheap person with no since of realizing the simple pleasures in life. For anything other than a temporary or life-saving circumstances, no thanks.

If it says anywhere in it “chemicals” of any kind, I’m not ingesting that. I’ll stick to eating my Paleo-ish diet, which consists of REAL, organic fruits and veggies; grass-fed, free range meats & eggs; and raw nuts and seeds. (I don’t eat grains, legumes and ONLY raw, unpasteurized dairy products.)
I’m almost 46 years old and I’m in the best physical condition of my life! I went from suffering debilitating Fibromyalgia pain; a near-38 inch waist size; and 210 pounds on a 5’8.5″ frame 6 years ago, to a steady 150 pounds (+/- a few pounds here and there) and it’s an effortless maintenance that’s lasted over 2 years now.
Plus, eating REAL food is amazingly delicious, when prepared carefully and with love. 🙂

Yikes!! What the heck? I highly doubt that you could have optimal health while eating/drinking only this stuff. What is a raw chemical? Ack powdered GMO, food product… Ill stick to my time consuming, expensive inconvenient amazingly delicious, nourishing and diverse meals.

Bleck! Chemical what?! Maybe as a intermediate to prevent starvation, but not as a regular diet.

Whole food is irreplaceable and he will find that out in time with multiple deficiencies and health problems. You can’t replace the enzymes and co-factors present in whole food. We don’t even know what most of them are!

If we lose contact with real food, we lose contact with the whole rest of the planet. No matter how much some of us might like to think we are above the messiness of life on a planet, we are still all a part of nature.

Human nutrition is so complicated that science may never be able to figure it out. This is the reason so many news stories about the wondrous effects of this or that vitamin or mineral are always retracted after longer-term follow-up studies. Just because beta-carotene is involved in one specific chemical reaction that eventually leads to a beneficial health result does not mean that taking beta-carotene supplements will produce the same result.

Most vitamins are groups of related compounds, not a single chemical that can be recreated in a chemistry lab. All of the individual compounds making up a vitamin are involved somewhere in the long chain of chemical reactions within the body that eventually result in good health. I have no doubt that many of the nutrients necessary for optimum health have not even been identified yet because no one has thought to look for them.

This is why eating whole foods is so important for maintaining good health. The minute amounts of tens of thousands of different chemicals present in all natural whole foods work in a synergistic way inside the body to produce exactly what we need to stay healthy. I just don’t feel this order of complexity can reproduced with supplements.

I hope Mr. Rhinehart continues his experiment with soylent for a few years or until no longer able to go on. It will be very interesting to see what happens to this brave man. Here, apparently, is an engineer who thinks he fully understands the biology of human nutrition and feels capable of creating an artificial material to meet all the body’s needs. What hubris!

As a nurse I’ve seen some elders who live on liquids like ensure for years and do okay. Some we get back eating and they thrive. As for me I’m from the food was about a lot more than just filling your belly. It was the epicenter of family life, a joining back together and sharing our days. Big Holiday celebrations, favorite meals and desert as we requested for our birthdays, family tradition foods that I still make and share the history and stories. We always ate well compared to the average SAD diet and starting 7 years ago took that to a new level. I believe for the emotional and physical health of our society we need to get closer to our food roots not farther away.

I can definitely see the use to combat world hunger, but I can’t imagine drinking, or eating for that matter, the same thing day-in and day-out. Part of the joy of living is eating a beautiful variety of foods/meals. It’s not for me, but then again I am not the kind of person that would ever be a slave to a computer.

Can’t believe how much people don’t like this. Regardless there will always be people like me that need and want something like this. This is great, and about time someone created this. So complain all you want this is going ahead and I’m lining up for it.

Well as I have so many intolerance’s and allergies to real food, I would give it a try.
Considering there is not much else I can use to keep my body healthy- not even organic, local fresh produce is helping me anymore. I am considering and feeling that this would be the next step to eliminating all food altogether. Even the Yogis and Tibetan Masters, have evolved beyond the need for consuming all the time. Why can we as a normal everyday race of human beings not evolve past the need to be consuming everything? I see great potential here for many.

I would seriusly consider this to replace breakfast and I-only-have-time-for-junk-food-meals. That would be a real life improver for me since I have huge problems eating in the morning eventhough I have to due to migranes-attacks related to bloodsugar swings. The psositive effects of beeing able to skip junk-meals is a nobrainer.

Raw Chemicals?? WTF?? i seriously can’t believe the bastardized versions of ‘food’ people will put in their bodies. this man will surely pay for htis horrible decision one day. And i sure hope the madness is stopped before we are feeding this crap to the population. Our food system has already become a terrifying science fiction movie and now this? seriously, stop the madness and this ‘time saving’ IDIOT.

I read this about soylent and I recall aan old movie with Charlton Heston called no lie Soylent Green about earth 2022 not having real food so the government produces a food replacement called Soylent Green and it has a very disturbing outcome. It’s a B type rated movie but clearly it may be a bit prophetic

I would live off this sludge on the day of the Pope’s wedding! I would much rather munch a crisp apple or enjoy some fresh berries than “sustain” myself on this craparoo. Sure, this bleak, tasteless goop may sustain a healthy body but — and this is a big but — PEOPLE ARE MORE THAN JUST BODIES! There is a whole sensory, emotional, social, and just plain HUMAN aspect to food and eating that this fine gentleman who made this stuff is trying to strip away and IT WON’T WORK. It will never work, because WE’RE NOT JUST BODIES.

I read about this in the New Yorker some time earlier this year, most of the article was about the kid who “invented” it and is promoting his start up company. World hunger?? Most of the world cherishes the rituals of sharing meals, the connection with the earth, the craft itself, not to mention sensual pleasures, perhaps Solyent is responsible for the brain fart here.

Absolutely not! Every time we prepare/eat real food, we have the opportunity to recognize our relationship with the earth and all it provides and all who participate in this miracle we call food. Soylent sounds like just one more way to distance ourselves from this physical and spiritual reality. Sad.

I shared this on tsu.co.grandmaonamission, as I think that needs to be shared far and wide, this idea really has nothing to do with ending world hunger, governments could do that if they really wanted to, you think they’d let them have access to this, they don’t let them have access to the hordes of supplies that are provided by other governments to feed the people it all just sits there and goes to waste, the idea behind this is to be less human and stuck in front of or how ever they do it know, but basically to be one with technology and nothing else, it awful nothing can replace, all thing we get from real food (lord forbid even if it, processed fast foods), it more than just nourishing our bodies. Sorry I’m older and I already see the breakdown of real social interaction, because of technology, while there are many beneficial things, like accessing and sharing of real information to many people spend too, much time on it, I do myself sometimes now that I’m by myself, but i definitely crave that human interaction, that’s why I came back to facebook from Pinterest, After I found I could follow so many of my favorite bloggers to so i get some social interaction, as well a accessing and sharing important information. Sorry to go on so about this I just never thought they would try to develop something like this with all the evidence about how eating healthy foods, help our bodies to function.

Well, I remember seeing this maybe, 1-2 years ago. Who would want to stop eating??? To taste, chew & savor our food is how we were created! It gives us a pleasure that a liquid diet just can’t give! It is a GOOD thing to take a break & see the colors, & taste & chew & feel the textures of the food we eat. Smell, too! That is part of what satisfies us! Our body LIKES to use it’s digestive juices to help us break down the food we had to chew, and it gives our body something to grab ahold of, and it helps the muscular action of our intestines, to push the fiber etc., thru our system. I can see, maybe, in a pinch, having something like this, for an emergency or starvation, but I can certainly think of OTHER mixtures, like smoothies that would be a whole lot more enjoyable!!! We are SUPPOSED to enjoy our eating time!

MEET THE FOOD RENEGADE

Founder and CEO of Food Renegade, Kristen Michaelis CNC has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2008. She’s a passionate advocate for REAL FOOD — food that’s sustainable, organic, local, and traditionally-prepared according to the wisdom of our ancestors. [LEARN MORE]